Viv is a conservation decision-maker and modeller interested in how natural and human disturbances affect biodiversity and natural resources.

She has expertise in both applied and theoretical conservation biology, including reserve system design (marine and terrestrial), using decision theory ideas and economics to solve conservation problems, threatened species management, disturbance management, population dynamics and modelling, fisheries management, and climate change. Studying the interactions within and between complex dynamic systems and species are of particular interest to Viv. It is important to her that her research is applicable and accessible to agencies and stakeholders involved in making conservation decisions, and she collaborates with governments and non-government organisations worldwide, including CSIRO, the Wildlife Conservation Society, The Nature Conservancy, and the World Wildlife Fund.

Viv completed her PhD with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions at the University of Queensland. The goal of the thesis was to harness spatial and population modelling techniques to combine resource management with biodiversity conservation and link direct and indirect stressors to marine biodiversity persistence. She investigated two case studies for managing multiple stressors to marine ecosystems: 1) spatial planning for oil palm agriculture and coral reef fisheries in Papua New Guinea, and 2) managing whale species affected by harvesting, climate change and krill population dynamics in the Southern Hemisphere. She is currently employed as a PostDoctoral Researcher in the Marine Predator Group at Macquarie University, working on a project to assess and provide cost-effective advice on managing interactions between cetaceans and fisheries on a regional basis across all states and territories of Australia.